Revealed: Where expats head to after Dubai stint

Dubai attracts talent from all over the world. Many expat professionals come here, work for a few years in the city, and then head to other popular destinations for work whereas some eventually go back to their home country.

According to head hunters in the country, the region at large is the next best popular destination for work for most professionals based here.

“Dubai is an eclectic and amazing place to live in and work. Of the candidates and clients that I have worked with here, I find that majority of them return to their home countries or are transferred by the employers to another location,” says Ash Athawale, Recruitment Manager at Reed Specialist Recruitment.

As per the Reed expert, “the next option from here is to countries within the GCC, especially Qatar or Saudi Arabia. One other trend is for individuals to acquire permanent residency and migrate to countries like Canada, Australia or New Zealand.”

Hasnain Qazi Middle East Business Manager at Huxley Associates, firmly believes that professionals consider job opportunities with the region very seriously. His picks are Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi in the Gulf region as the next most popular work destinations for the expat workforce in Dubai.

“Most candidates in the UAE will tend to move back to their native country,” agrees Caroline Gentles, Senior Consultant at Cobalt HR Consultancy.

“However, we have noticed that a number of candidates are keen to move further East to Hong Kong and Singapore. Many a times it will completely depend on where the best job opportunities are within a particular sector,” she explained to this website.

According to the latest Monster Employment Index Middle East, online opportunities exceeded July 2012 level in four of the seven countries monitored by the Index. Egypt (up 27 per cent) followed by Qatar (up 13 per cent) led all countries in year-over-year growth.

Overall, the region recorded a decline of nine per cent on an annual basis. “The decline in annual growth is reflective of the prevailing challenging economic conditions. Keeping this in mind, companies are adopting a cautious approach while hiring which is reflected in the index,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India/ Middle- East/ South East Asia).